{"id":4699,"date":"2015-07-03T12:14:41","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T11:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/?p=4699"},"modified":"2013-07-05T13:48:40","modified_gmt":"2013-07-05T12:48:40","slug":"dozenq-sakis-gouzonis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/dozenq-sakis-gouzonis\/","title":{"rendered":"DozenQ \u2013 Sakis Gouzonis"},"content":{"rendered":"
This entry is part 5 of 20 in the series DozenQ 3<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Sakis Gouzonis<\/strong>, more often referred to as Sakis, is a Greek electronic\u00a0composer. He has released five studio albums over the last five years\u00a0(First Contact, New Earth, The Tree Of Life, Ultimate Love and Vast\u00a0Victory), winning multiple international awards for his music. Today, his\u00a0international fan club consists of more than 440,000 members in 220\u00a0countries. What makes this all the more amazing is that it has all been\u00a0done independently, with no record labels involved in supporting him. He\u00a0is the only Greek independent artist to have reached that level of fame\u00a0and success.<\/p>\n

01. How did you get started in music?<\/h3>\n

I have been playing and composing music since I was a kid. In 1990, my\u00a0parents bought me an electronic keyboard, and I immediately started\u00a0playing and composing music. I can still remember myself sitting at my\u00a0parents\u2019 home spending countless hours every day composing, orchestrating,\u00a0creating sounds, and playing music. After finishing Senior High School, I\u00a0released two remix compilations of Christian hymns. The first one was\u00a0released in 1996, and the second one in 1998. In 2000, I was asked to play\u00a0keyboards in a band that was backing up Greek singer Costas Fragoraptis.\u00a0We released two albums, and both of them were aired by Greek radio\u00a0stations. On 8 August 2008, I released my first studio album entitled\u00a0First Contact, which received a lot of radio airplay and press coverage\u00a0from media outlets around the world.<\/p>\n

\u00a002. Where did your direction come from?<\/h3>\n

The music you listen to when you are growing up is extremely important,\u00a0and for me it changed who I was and everything I wanted to be. When I\u00a0first listened to the music of Jean Michel Jarre, Yanni, & Vangelis, my\u00a0life took a new direction.<\/p>\n

03. Who were your major influences and inspirations, and who do you despise?<\/h3>\n

I believe that the music from the 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s was a major influence. I\u00a0was also influenced by great electronic and cinematic composers, such as\u00a0Jean Michel Jarre, Yanni, Vangelis, John Williams, James Horner, Danny\u00a0Elfman, Alan Silvestri, and many others. I despise all those that spread\u00a0hate around the world, instead of accepting people as they are.<\/p>\n

04. What inspires you to make your current type of songs and sound?<\/h3>\n

The idea of inspiration is a bit hard to comprehend. Something that one\u00a0person may not even notice could be the most inspiring thing to someone\u00a0else. Personally, I am inspired by so many things; planets, stars, people,\u00a0nature, paintings, dreams, etc. The list could go on forever.<\/p>\n

05. What can someone who has never seen you live before expect from your\u00a0live shows then and possibly even now?<\/h3>\n

He\/she can expect a Greek electronic composer on stage that performs with\u00a0passion and a lot of positive energy. In my live act I do my best to\u00a0recreate the sound of my studio albums, but with the emotionality of a\u00a0live show.<\/p>\n

06. How do you begin your tracks? What types of themes and subjects do you\u00a0deal with?<\/h3>\n

Each one of my tracks comes in a moment of inspiration. My music is about\u00a0the universe, it is about the infinite, it is about the mysterious forces\u00a0that we all feel to be around us, it is about what we can and what we\u00a0cannot understand. My complicated rhythms tell people something about the\u00a0equally complex rhythms of their inner life.<\/p>\n

07. How has your music evolved since you first began playing?<\/h3>\n

That’s a great question. Well, my melodies have become more emotional, and\u00a0my orchestrations and chord structures have become more complex. In\u00a0addition, music technology has improved vastly since I started recording,\u00a0as has my access to that technology. My music tracks just keep getting\u00a0stronger and stronger.<\/p>\n

08. What has been your biggest challenge? Have you been able to overcome\u00a0this? If so, how?<\/h3>\n

My biggest challenge has always been not having enough knowledge for\u00a0solving technical problems as quickly as I would like to. But I will say\u00a0that I have very high standards. Being a perfectionist both in the studio\u00a0and live on stage is a constant challenge for me.<\/p>\n

09. Do you play covers? If you could pick any song, which would you like\u00a0to cover most and why?<\/h3>\n

It is very easy to fall into the trap of wanting to play other people\u2019s\u00a0music. For me, there is nothing more satisfying than playing my own\u00a0original music and people responding to it in a really positive way.<\/p>\n

10. Where do you envisage yourself being in five years’ time?<\/h3>\n

In five years\u2019 time, I would envisage myself being in my studio recording a \u201cgreatest hits\u201d album.<\/p>\n

11. Who would you most like to record with?<\/h3>\n

I like to record with Vangelis or Yanni. They are both great\u00a0Greek composers.<\/p>\n

12. What should we be expecting from you in the near future?<\/h3>\n

I am currently working on my sixth studio album, which is going to be\u00a0released on 13 August 2013. I am also working on planning my tour for this\u00a0autumn.
\nSo, remember to visit my official website SakisGouzonis.com<\/a> for\u00a0all the latest news. Thanks in advance.<\/p>\n

Web Links:<\/h3>\n

SakisGouzonis.com<\/a>
\nSakisGouzonis.com\/music<\/a>
\nmyspace.com\/sakisgouzonis<\/a>
\npurevolume.com\/sakisgouzonis<\/a>
\nimradio.com\/sakisgouzonis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This entry is part 5 of 20 in the series DozenQ 3<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Sakis Gouzonis, more often referred to as Sakis, is a Greek electronic composer. He has released five studio albums over the last five years (First Contact, New Earth, The Tree Of Life, Ultimate Love and Vast Victory), winning multiple international awards for his music. Today, his international fan club consists of more than 440,000 members in 220 countries. What makes this all the more amazing is that it has all been done independently, with no record labels involved in supporting him. He is the only Greek independent artist to have reached that level of fame and success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":4703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[141,129,73,71],"tags":[570,121,764],"series":[747],"class_list":["post-4699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dozenq","category-instruments","category-interviews","category-music","tag-dozen-q","tag-eyeplug","tag-sakis-gouzonis","series-dozenq-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4699"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4705,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4699\/revisions\/4705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4699"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=4699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}